The Last Enchanter by Laurisa White Reyes Read Free Book Online Page B

want to eat you,” Hyer said, his voice laced with delight. “They will not long resist before they give in to their hunger.”
    Marcus realized then that Hyer might very well decide not to free him, vision or no vision. He was running out of time.
    Their groc guide, who still stood beside Marcus, leaned close so that his snout nearly touched Marcus’s ear. “Get in the boat,” he whispered.
    There was something about the voice Marcus recognized. The shape of the beast’s face, the look in his eyes seemed familiar. He looked at the groc more carefully.
    â€œBryn?” whispered Marcus. “Is that you?”
    The guide suddenly stepped between Marcus and Hyer’s throne. “The stone does not lie!” the guide shouted to the crowd of anxious grocs. “The stone reveals this boy and his friends should go free.”
    â€œ All of them free?” growled a groc who stood nearby. “Hyer says only the one in the stone goes. We can have the others!”
    An angry grumble rose from the crowd. Hyer raised his hands for silence. “You will have what I promise!”
    â€œI will take the boy back to the human world,” Bryn said. He bowed several times, each time taking a step backward, forcing Marcus, Clovis, and Lael closer toward the boat.
    When the boat was at their backs, Bryn hissed, “Get in the boat! Hurry!”
    The grocs roared in confusion.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” asked Lael.
    â€œYou heard him!” said Marcus. “Get in the boat.”
    Clovis climbed in without hesitation. Then he offered his hand to Lael.
    â€œBut why?” said Lael. “You don’t expect me to trust some overgrown lizard.”
    â€œLael—”
    â€œHow do we know it hasn’t planned its own personal feast?”
    â€œLael!” said Marcus. “Get in the boat—now!”
    Lael glanced over Marcus’s shoulder at the grocs who were growing more and more restless. Then she climbed into the boat. Marcus and Bryn scrambled in after her.
    From his perch, Hyer shouted a command to stop the escaping prisoners, but the crowd of complaining grocs drowned out his voice. Bryn rowed the boat several yards out from shore. Hyer roared louder, “Follow them!”
    Several of the grocs jumped into the water and started swimming after them. Others disappeared into a nearby cave and then returned, dragging two more boats behind them. Soon these boats, filled with shouting grocs, were steadily gaining on them.
    â€œWe need to go faster!” said Marcus.
    Lael stood up in the back of the boat. Loading her sling with some small rocks she’d snatched up on the shore, she swung the weapon over her head and let the stones fly. They hit several of the pursuing grocs, resulting in some painful yelps. One even lost his balance and fell into the water.
    Bryn rowed the boat into the darkness of the cavern. Soon it was so dark, they could not see each other let alone the boats chasing them, and Marcus wondered where they could possibly be headed. They continued on for several minutes, and then suddenly the bow of the boat rammed into something solid. The impact threw everyone forward and nearly out of the boat.
    â€œWhat happened?” asked Lael, rubbing her sore knee, which had smashed against the boat’s wooden bottom.
    â€œThe cave’s outer wall,” answered Bryn.
    â€œIs this the way out?” said Clovis.
    â€œThe only way out is the tunnel we brought you through before,” replied Bryn. “But I don’t think you want to go back there now.”
    â€œYou mean it’s a dead end? We’re trapped?” Lael’s voice rose in a panic.
    â€œMarcus will save us,” said Bryn.
    â€œWhat?” asked Marcus, suddenly alert. “What can I do?”
    â€œYou have magic.”
    â€œNo, I don’t.”
    â€œBut I’ve seen it,” insisted Bryn. “You command fire and water and earth! You